CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contaminants in Groundwater near former Navy Bases in southeastern Pennsylvania

USGS has investigated groundwater flow and contaminant transport in the vicinity of former Navy bases in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, southeastern Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy. Additional cooperative support for these investigations has been provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bucks and Montgomery Counties, and local government agencies.

Highlights

Industrial solvent contaminants have migrated in fractured-rock aquifers in the vicinity of former Navy bases

Newark Basin aquifers of the Brunswick Group and the Lockatong and Stockton Formations have been used for industrial and drinking-water supply

Field testing characterized the highly heterogeneous and anisotropic strata showing the predominant role of bed-oriented fractures in contaminant migration

Measured water levels in wells were used to construct water-level maps, and aquifer testing revealed high-permeability hydraulic connections between wells

Groundwater-flow models are currently (2017) being developed based on synthesis of field-test results using a 3D hydrogeologic framework of dipping shale and sandstone strata

The simulated effect of changes in pumping on flow paths will help optimize protection, characterization, monitoring, and remediation activities

Areas contributing recharge to streams and discharging wells are being mapped using the groundwater-flow models; as groundwater withdrawals in the area have decreased, a higher proportion of local recharge ultimately discharges to streams

Identification of Water-Bearing Zones by the use of Geophysical Logs and Borehole Television Surveys, Collected February to September 1997, at the Former Naval Air Warfare Center, Warminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania: USGS Report OFR 98-86

Results of Borehole Geophysical Logging and Aquifer-Isolation Tests conducted in the John Wagner and Sons, Inc. Former Production Well, Ivyland, Pennsylvania: USGS Report WRIR 97-4095

Geohydrology and distribution of volatile organic compounds in ground water in the Casey Village area, Bucks County, Pennsylvania: USGS Report WRIR 98-4010